Work Text:
The streets of Caldera are lined with countless lanterns that night. Fire Nation residents are out on the streets, dancing, drinking, singing and playing music. The smell of smoked, grilled and roasted meat filled the air. Almost everyone in the city is celebrating with glee.
Why wouldn’t they?
The Fire Lord is finally getting married. This means stability for the nation.
Inside the palace, the celebration paints a different picture. Lights were everywhere but some faces were grim. Music was playing but they might was well play a funeral march with the lack of excitement people had during the banquet. Everyone important is in attendance, exchanging polite smiles and engaging in silent conversation.
Away from the music and the banquet, in a quiet corner of the garden, faint sobs can be heard.
People thought that it was a ghost of a concubine that was said to haunt the palace gardens.
In reality, it was a blind woman, nursing her broken heart.
Toph did not want to attend the wedding. How could she? It's the wedding of the man she loves, the person she's been yearning for years.
She tried making excuses.
She said that she didn't have anything to wear. Suki travelled all the way from Kiyoshi Island to shop with her.
She said that she have too much work. Aang and Sokka flew to help her with whatever work needed to be done.
2 days before the wedding, she said she was sick. Katara came with Aang, Sokka and Suki to heal her and nurse her back to health.
Her friends were caring and tried to do everything to get her to attend and she can't even blame them. How could she? They don't even know the real reason why she doesn't want to attend.
Toph was genuinely surprised that she even received an invitation. The parchment that was made out of absurdly luxurious material was taunting her since the day it came to her doorstep.
When Penga read the letter, it was as if her world stopped. She knew that he had to get married, that was the law, but not this soon and not to that person.
The words that came out of Penga's mouth felt like a personal attack.
She wanted to scream, to destroy something but she knows that she can't.
She's the one who walked away afterall.
So now, she's in a quiet corner of the garden, hiding in the bushes, crying her eyes out.
Toph knew that she could be seen by anyone but she really doesn't care. If someone saw, she'll just make an excuse and no one would dare to challenge her... well, no one but one man.
Toph heard him before he spoke.
Boots against stone. Careful. Hesitant. Like he thought she might shatter if he stepped too loudly.
“Toph…”
Of course.
She let out a shaky breath and wiped her face with the heel of her hand, turning slightly away even though it didn’t matter.
“Hey, Sparky,” she said, voice rough. “Big day. Shouldn’t you be inside?”
He didn’t answer right away. The silence stretched—tight, fragile.
Then his steps came closer.
“Don’t,” she snapped.
He stopped.
For a moment, neither of them moved. The distant music from the banquet drifted through the garden—too bright, too alive for something that felt like this.
“I can’t just leave you here,” Zuko said quietly.
“Yeah, you can.” Her hands clenched at her sides. “You’ve gotten pretty good at that.”
That landed. She felt it in the way his breathing hitched.
Still, he stepped forward again.
“Don’t come any closer,” she warned, backing up a step. “I mean it.”
“Toph—”
“You’re married.” The words came out sharper than she intended, cracking at the edges. “You don’t get to do this.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
She laughed—short, bitter. “You’re the Fire Lord. That’s kind of your whole thing.”
“They pressured me. The council, the generals—” He exhaled hard. “There’s nothing between Mai and me. Not like—”
“Don’t.” Her voice dropped, quieter now, but more dangerous. “Don’t say things you don’t get to take back.”
He was close now. Too close. She could feel the heat of him, familiar and awful all at once.
“I never stopped loving you,” he said.
That did it.
Before she could think better of it, his hand brushed her cheek.
Toph shoved him hard.
He hit the ground with a dull thud, the impact vibrating faintly through the earth beneath her feet.
For a second, neither of them spoke.
Then he was moving again—getting up, coming back.
“Stop it!” she snapped, pushing at him again, but this time he caught her wrists.
Not tight. Not hurting.
Just… not letting go.
“Let me go!”
“I can’t,” he said, and there was something raw in his voice now. “Not like this.”
She struggled, twisting, trying to break free—but he pulled her into him instead.
And that was worse.
Because she knew this. The way he held her—steady, grounding, like he thought he could keep the world from falling apart if he just didn’t let go.
Her strength gave out all at once.
Her knees buckled.
Zuko reacted instantly, lowering them both to the grass as he held her.
And then she was crying again—really crying this time, the kind she couldn’t choke back or hide.
He didn’t say anything for a while. Just held her.
“I know why you left,” he said eventually, softer now. “I get it.”
She shook her head against his shoulder, but she didn’t argue.
“The palace… the rules… all of it.” He swallowed. “It would’ve felt like a cage to you.”
It had.
Every corridor, every expectation—closing in, tightening, suffocating. Loving him had meant staying. And staying had meant losing herself.
“I didn’t want to trap you,” he continued. “But losing you—” His voice broke off.
“I still love you.”
The words settled heavy between them.
“I don’t think I ever stopped.”
Toph’s hands tightened in his robes.
She came here to end this. To let it die quietly, somewhere no one would see.
But he was here.
And he still—
She reached up, grabbed his collar, and kissed him.
It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t careful.
It was everything she hadn’t said, everything she never got to have.
For a moment, he froze. Then he kissed her back.
Familiar. Fierce. Like no time had passed at all.
She knew this was wrong.
Knew he belonged to someone else now. Knew this would break her all over again when it was over.
But she didn’t stop.
Didn’t want to.
Just this once—